1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parts maintenance management system, for example, which is provided in a semiconductor device fabrication apparatus having many expendable components, for managing maintenance timings of respective components.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In the process of fabricating a semiconductor device, for example, there is a successive process called photolithography in which a resist film is formed on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a wafer), exposed after a circuit pattern or the like is reduced by means of photo-technology, and developed. As an automatic apparatus for performing this photolithography process, for example, a coating and developing processing apparatus for performing coating of a resist and developing is used.
This coating and developing apparatus uses many expendable components such as a rotational driving motor for rotationally driving the wafer and a filter for removing impurities from a resist solution. For these expendable components, replacement timings recommended by their manufactures are set, and based on the arrival of each expendable component at the replacement timing, a user contacts the manufacturer of the expendable component and replaces this component.
The conventional management of expendable components is, however, left to a user of an apparatus, and hence the expendable components need to be managed in the user""s own management way. Moreover, in the replacement of expendable components based on simple exchange timings, the expendable components are sometimes replaced even when these expendable components are still sufficiently usable, which is undesirable from both environmental and economical viewpoints. Meanwhile, user""s selfish judgement is dangerous since it leads to the breakdown of the entire apparatus.
An object of the present invention is to provide a parts maintenance management system capable of managing a maintenance timing of each component and giving notice thereof on the side of an apparatus composed of a plurality of components.
To attain the aforesaid object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for managing a maintenance timing of a component, comprising: a first maintenance interval storage for storing a first maintenance interval of the component which is not related to an actual utilization of a predetermined apparatus; a second maintenance interval storage storing a second maintenance interval of the component which is related to the actual utilization of the predetermined apparatus; a maintenance demander for demanding maintenance of the component based on passing of the first maintenance interval; and a maintenance interval prolonger for judging whether the second maintenance interval has passed or not based on the passing of the first maintenance interval, and when the second maintenance interval has not yet passed, suspending the demand for maintenance by the maintenance demander and prolonging the first maintenance interval.
According to such a configuration, the maintenance interval of the component can be managed on the apparatus side, in which case the first maintenance interval can be properly prolonged with reference to the first maintenance interval which is set irrespective of the actual operation of the apparatus and the second maintenance interval which is set based on the actual operation of the apparatus.
In this parts maintenance management system, it is preferable that the actual utilization of the apparatus which is related to the second maintenance interval be an actual operating time, a movement distance, the number of times of operation, and the like of the apparatus depending to components. Moreover, it is desirable that this parts maintenance management system further comprises: a maintenance frequency storage for storing an actual maintenance frequency of the component; and a first maintenance interval updater for taking out the maintenance frequency stored in the maintenance frequency storage after a lapse of a predetermined period and updating the first maintenance interval in the first maintenance interval storage with a shortest maintenance interval in the frequency as the first maintenance interval.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a system for managing maintenance timings of a first component and a second component in a processing system having a first apparatus having the first component and a second apparatus which has the second component identical to the first component and differs from the first apparatus, comprises: a first maintenance interval storage for storing a first maintenance interval of the first component which is not related to an actual utilization of the first apparatus; a second maintenance interval storage storing a second maintenance interval of the first component which is related to the actual utilization of the first apparatus; a maintenance demander for demanding maintenance of the first and second components based on passing of the first maintenance interval; and a maintenance interval prolonger for judging whether the second maintenance interval has passed or not based on the passing of the first maintenance interval, and when the second maintenance interval has not yet passed, suspending the demand for maintenance by the maintenance demander and prolonging the first maintenance interval.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a management system for managing maintenance timings of a first component and a second component in a first processing system having the first component and a second processing system which has the second component identical to the first component and is identical to the first processing system comprises a maintenance management center, the first processing system comprising: a first maintenance interval storage for storing a first maintenance interval of the first component which is not related to an actual utilization of the first processing system; a second maintenance interval storage storing a second maintenance interval of the first component which is related to the actual utilization of the first processing system; a first maintenance demander for demanding maintenance of the first component based on passing of the first maintenance interval; a first maintenance interval prolonger for judging whether the second maintenance interval has passed or not based on the passing of the first maintenance interval, and when the second maintenance interval has not yet passed, suspending the demand for maintenance by the first maintenance demander and prolonging the first maintenance interval; and a first transmitter for transmitting at least information on the second maintenance interval stored in the second maintenance interval storage to the maintenance management center, the maintenance management center comprising: a first receiver for receiving the information transmitted from the first transmitter; and a second transmitter for transmitting the information received by the first receiver to the second processing system, and the second processing system comprising a second receiver for receiving the information transmitted from the second transmitter.
These objects and still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.